Solid State Drive vs.

Hard Disk Drive

Price and Performance Study
A Dell Technical White Paper

Dell PowerVault Storage Systems

Vamsee Kasavajhala
Dell PowerVault Technical Marketing
THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL
ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

© 2011 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without
the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.

Dell, the DELL logo, the DELL badge, EqualLogic, PowerEdge, and PowerVault are trademarks of Dell
Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities
claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in
trademarks and trade names other than its own.

May 2011
 ABSTRACT

Solid state drives (SSDs) offer exceptional performance; however, compared to hard disk drives (HDDs)
they have much less capacity per drive and are much more expensive. Additionally, each enterprise
application workload has different capacity and performance requirements. Consequently, the
challenge before IT departments is to navigate the price, performance, and capacity trade-offs
between SSDs and HDDs to determine the best, most cost effective drive type for each application
workload type.

This technical report provides price vs. performance results from tests performed at Dell™ Labs for SSD
and HDD drives under various simulated workloads. The objective is to provide customers with
recommendations on drive types that are best suited for some common applications. The report also
includes an overview of Dell storage arrays suited to both SSD and HDD drive types, as well as an
overview of tiered SSD/HDD storage, which enables IT departments to cost effectively take advantage
of the best properties of both drive types.
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2
Brief Overview of HDD and SSD Technologies ........................................................................ 2
Measuring HDD and SSD Workload Performance ..................................................................... 3
Price vs. Performance Test Results .................................................................................... 4
Random Access Workload—Microsoft Exchange Email ............................................................ 6
Summary .................................................................................................................... 8
Sequential Workloads ............................................................................................... 8
Random Workloads .................................................................................................. 8
Putting it All Together—Manual and Automatic Tiering Implementation ........................................ 9
Appendix A: Overview of Dell Storage Arrays ...................................................................... 11
PowerVault Storage Solutions Overview .......................................................................... 11
PowerEdge Servers Overview ....................................................................................... 12
EqualLogic Storage Solutions Overview ........................................................................... 12
Appendix B: Related Publications ................................................................................... 13

Page 1
Introduction
The traditional mainstay in storage technology has been the hard disk drive (HDD). However, while the
capacity of HDDs has increased 40% annually, their random input/output (I/O) performance has
increased only 2% annually. This means that for some of today’s enterprise, web, cloud, and virtualized
applications that require both high capacity and performance, HDDs may not deliver a cost-effective
storage solution, even with their significant drop in cost per GB. Recently, an alternative storage
device technology, the solid state drive (SSD), has started to gain prominence. SSDs offer exceptionally
high performance but have much less capacity per drive. They are also relatively expensive when
compared to HDDs, and have a write endurance limit.

Given the properties of HDDs and SSDs, IT departments now have a choice, but also a challenge, in
determining the best way to cost-effectively fulfill the performance and capacity requirements of their
enterprise applications. To meet this challenge and determine how they should integrate HDDs and
SSDs into their storage fabric, IT departments must first quantify the performance, capacity, and cost
value of SSDs vs. HDDs for different applications.

This white paper provides the results of SSD and HDD standalone performance testing at Dell Labs with
various simulated application workloads. The objective is to provide IT departments with the
information they need to most effectively take advantage of the different cost, performance, and
capacity characteristics provided by HDDs and SSDs.

In addition, this white paper provides an overview of the Dell PowerVault™ MD Storage and PowerEdge™
server families and shows how the architecture seamlessly integrates with both HDDs and SSDs. The
paper concludes by showing how IT departments can leverage automatic tiering between SSD and HDD
drives in an EqualLogic™ PS Series SAN to both reduce cost and improve performance.

NOTE: For this analysis, we assumed that the SSD write endurance limit would not affect the cost of
ownership, and that the write duty cycle (amount of time spent writing in a 24 hour period) is
approximately 10%.

Brief Overview of HDD and SSD Technologies

HDDs are spinning disks, and their mechanical actions can create a delay in data retrieval. SSDs, built
from silicon memory chips, have no moving parts, no rotational delay, and near zero seek time, which
dramatically reduces response times. SSDs can be extremely valuable to applications that need high
performance as measured by access latency and input/output operations per second (IOPS) from a
limited capacity.

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Measuring HDD and SSD Workload Performance
We set up eleven application I/O workload profiles (Table 1). For each profile, we used the IOmeter
application to simulate the workload and measure the corresponding I/O. The analysis was done with
the IOmeter 2006 version, which has more randomized data content than the 2008 version. For more
information about the IOmeter, see http://www.IOmeter.org.

Table 1. Application I/O Workload Profiles

Application I/O Workload Profile

Application
Block Size in Read/Write Random/Sequential I/O Performance
Bytes Percentage Percentage Metric*

Web File Server 4KB, 8KB, 64KB 95%/5% 75%/25% IOPS

Database Online
Transaction 8KB 70%/30% 100%/0% IOPS
Processing (OLTP)

Exchange Email 4KB 67%/33% 100%/0% IOPS

OS Drive 8KB 70%/30% 100%/0% IOPS

Decision Support
1MB 100%/0% 100%/0% IOPS
Systems (DSS)

File Server 8KB 90%/10% 75%/25% IOPS

Video on Demand 512KB 100%/0% 100%/0% IOPS

Web Server Logging 8KB 0%/100% 0%/100% MBPS

SQL Server Logging 64KB 0%/100% 0%/100% MBPS

OS Paging 64KB 90%/10% 0%/100% MBPS

Media Streaming 64KB 98%/2% 0%/100% MBPS

*Metric measurements: IOPS = I/O operations per second MBPS = Megabytes per second

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Each profile was executed on a server connected to the target drives under test in a standalone mode
via an H200 internal RAID adapter in a non-RAID configuration. The target drives used were 10K RPM
SAS HDD, Enterprise Value SSD, and Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD. Table 2 outlines the
differences between the two SSD types (Enterprise Value and Enterprise Mainstream Performance).

Table 2. Differences Between Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD and Enterprise

Value SSD
Enterprise Mainstream
Enterprise Value SSD
Characteristics Performance SSD
(Samsung SS805)
(Pliant 149GB)
Host Interface SAS SATA
Performance (8K transfers, 70/30 R/W,
7K—10K IOPS 4K—6K IOPS
QD = 4)
Flash Memory Technology SLC NAND SLC NAND
Capacity 149 GB 100 GB
Mid- to High-Range Storage Low- to Mid-Range Storage
Target Storage and Server
and Server and Server

Price vs. Performance Test Results

In this section, we present two sample test results—one each for sequential and random-access
workloads—that clearly demonstrate the performance and cost differences between SSD and HDD. The
prices comparisons of the three drives in terms of price (US$) per GB capacity is shown in Figure 1.

NOTE: For all tests described in this white paper, we used the Dell Americas region list prices as of the
publication date of this paper. In addition, the price was normalized to US dollars per 100 GB. For
example, the normalized price for a 150 GB drive with a list price of US $90.00 is: 90*100/150 GB =
$60.00.

Figure 1. Price/GB Comparison: Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD, Enterprise

Value SSD, and 10K SAS HDD

$35.00
$30.00
$25.00
$20.00
$/GB

$15.00
$10.00
$5.00
$0.00

Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD Enterprise Value SSD 10K SAS HDD

Page 4
Sequential Access Workload—Media Streaming

Media streaming is an example of a sequential access workload. Media streaming servers are systems
that provide web-casting, video conferencing, Internet entertainment (for example, Internet TV or
radio), and multimedia services. These systems generally require a balance between storage capacity,
availability, redundancy, and performance.

Table 3 outlines the I/O parameters used for the media-streaming test case.

Table 3. Media Streaming Server I/O Workload Profile

Sequential/Random Read/Write
Block Size in KB I/O Performance Metric
Percentage Percentage

64 KB 100%/0% 98%/2% MBPS (Megabytes per second)

Figure 2. Media Streaming Server Performance

300.00 50.00

45.00
250.00
40.00

35.00
200.00

Price(US$)/MBPS
30.00

150.00 25.00
Performance(MBPS)

20.00
100.00
15.00

10.00
50.00
5.00

0.00 0.00
1 2 4 8 16 32 64
Load (Queue Depth)

10K SAS HDD MBPS

Enterprise Value SSD MBPS
Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD MBPS
10K SAS HDD $/MBPS
Enterprise Value SSD $/MBPS
Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD $/MBPS

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Table 4. HDD and SSD Performance and Price/MBPS Ratio Comparison

Price (US$)/MBPS Ratio Performance Ratio

Drive Type Comparison
(At Load = 8) (At Load = 8)

Enterprise Value SSD vs. 10K SAS HDD 8.44/1.1 = 7.67 231/138 = 1.67

Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD

15.02/1.1 = 13 205.5/138 = 1.5
vs. 10K SAS HDD

From Figure 2 and Table 4, we can see that for sequential access workloads, such as media streaming
applications, the price/MBPS ratio is much greater than the corresponding performance ratio when
moving from HDDs to SSDs. In other words, IT administrators will pay significantly more for SSD drives
(13 times, if moving to Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD) than they get in performance
improvements (1.5 times, if moving to Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD). Therefore, for
sequential access applications, traditional hard drives offer a more cost effective solution.

If additional performance is necessary, then Enterprise Value SSDs are a good option (see Table 4).
Enterprise Value SSDs cost much less than Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSDs (see Figure 1) and
offer similar if not better performance at most queue depths.

IT departments considering SSDs should take both the performance and the price/performance ratios
into consideration before making a choice. For some IT operations, the additional cost might not justify
the performance improvement.

Random Access Workload—Microsoft Exchange Email

The storage requirements for email servers can vary depending on the size and number of emails and
the type and number of users. While small departmental email servers may need only limited storage
and features, large corporate email servers normally require greater storage capacity and a high level
of availability, performance, and scalability. I/O profiles will vary depending on the number of users
and the size of emails and their attachments.

Table 5 outlines the I/O parameters for the Microsoft Exchange Email test case.

Table 5. I/O Workload Profile for Exchange Email

Block Size in Sequential/Random

Read/Write Percentage I/O Performance Metric
KB Percentage

4 KB 0%/100% 67%/33% IOPS (I/O operations per second)

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Figure 3. Exchange Email Server Performance

35000.00 1.40

30000.00 1.20

25000.00 1.00
Performance (IOPS)

Price(US$)/IOPS
20000.00 0.80

15000.00 0.60

10000.00 0.40

5000.00 0.20

0.00 0.00
1 2 4 8 16 32 64
Load (Queue Depth)

10K SAS HDD

Enterprise Value SSD IOPS
Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD IOPS
10K SAS $/IOPS
Enterprise Value SSD $/IOPS
Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD $/IOPS

Table 6. HDD and SSD Performance and Price/IOPS Ratio Comparison

Performance Ratio Price/IOPS Ratio

Drive Type Comparison
(At Load = 8) (At Load = 8)

Enterprise Value SSD vs. 10K SAS HDD 8761.3/232.19 = 37.6 0.22/0.66 = 0.33

Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSD vs.

13794/232.19 = 59.46 0.22/0.66 = 0.33
10K SAS HDD

SSDs are best suited for applications that use random data accesses and small payload sizes. From
Figure 3 and Table 6, we can see that at queue depth 8, Enterprise Mainstream Performance SSDs offer
almost 60 times better performance than traditional hard drives, and yet their price/IOPS ratio is 1/3
of that of HDDs. In other words, IT administrators will see significant performance gains at a good cost
point when moving from HDDs to SSDs. And this ratio only improves as the queue depth increases.

Page 7
Therefore, for completely random applications like Exchange Mail, SSDs offer huge performance
improvements and deliver solid cost value.

Summary
Customers should take both performance and the price/performance ratios into consideration when
deciding between SSDs and HDDs. SSDs offer significant benefits for specific workloads. However, if
your workloads do not require high performance, or have a higher than 10% write duty cycle and are
not tierable, an investment in SSDs may not be cost-effective. While your system may perform well, it
could be over-provisioned and under-utilized for what the applications can leverage.

Sequential Workloads
For typical sequential workloads, traditional hard drives offer a combination of capacity and
performance for a very good price. Although SSDs can offer performance improvement over HDDs even
for sequential applications, the performance improvement does not justify their cost. Therefore, we
recommend hard disk drives for predominantly sequential applications.

Random Workloads
For typical random workloads, SSDs offer tremendous performance improvements and no worries about
write endurance/wear out. The performance improves further as applications become more parallel
and utilize the full capability of the SSDs. The performance improvements gained from SSDs for random
workloads definitely outweigh their additional cost. Therefore, we recommend SSDs for random I/O
applications, especially with tiering software or a low write duty cycle environment.

A summary of Dell recommendations is in Table 7.

NOTE: Dell believes the best way to leverage SSD technology is to use a tiered storage approach, which
delivers the best price and performance results for arrays containing a mix of SSD and HDD
technologies. See “Putting it All Together—Manual and Automatic Tiering Implementation”.

Table 7. Drive Recommendations for Each Application Workload I/O Profile

Payload Size Read/Write Random/Sequential Recommended

Application
in Bytes Percentage Mix Percentage Mix Drive Type

Web File Server 4KB, 8KB, 64KB 95%/5% 75%/25% SSD

Database Online
Transaction Processing 8KB 70%/30% 100%/0% SSD
(OLTP)

Exchange Email 4KB 67%/33% 100%/0% SSD

OS Drive 8KB 70%/30% 100%/0% SSD

Decision Support
1MB 100%/0% 100%/0% SSD
Systems (DSS)

File Server 8KB 90%/10% 75%/25% SSD

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 Payload Size Read/Write Random/Sequential Recommended
Application
in Bytes Percentage Mix Percentage Mix Drive Type

Video on Demand 512KB 100%/0% 100%/0% SSD

Web Server Logging 8KB 0%/100% 0%/100% HDD

SQL Server Logging 64KB 0%/100% 0%/100% HDD

OS Paging 64KB 90%/10% 0%/100% HDD

Media Streaming 64KB 98%/2% 0%/100% HDD

NOTE: In this analysis, we assumed that the SSD write endurance limit would not affect the cost of
ownership. It is assumed that the write duty cycle (amount of time spent writing in a 24 hour period) is
approximately 10%.

Putting it All Together—Manual and Automatic Tiering

Implementation
Storage tiering increases efficiency by matching business needs with the most appropriate storage
media. By tiering storage, enterprise IT organizations can direct high I/O operations like OLTP or
certain Web-facing applications to high-performance SSD and serial attached SCSI (SAS) arrays.
Similarly, inert file or application data can be directed to more affordable Nearline SAS/SATA SAN
arrays.

Designed from the outset to offer high ease-of-use and low total cost of ownership, Dell EqualLogic PS
Series virtualized iSCSI SANs provide IT organizations with a number of features for automating tiered
storage. These features extend the automation at the core of the PS Series design, while allowing
customization and control of storage tiers to suit a wide range of business and organizational
requirements.

An enterprise runs a mix of applications in the course of business operations, each with its own
particular set of performance requirements and environmental considerations. To support this
application mix, storage architects can configure their PS Series SAN as a heterogeneous storage pool
with multiple arrays, each running a different RAID policy. The EqualLogic Auto-Tiering features
monitor volume size and I/O workloads, and then over time, automatically migrate volumes to arrays
with the most appropriate disk technologies and RAID policies. Expansion is simple — just add an array
to the SAN. The PS Series SAN automatically redistributes workloads across all arrays to best suit the
application mix. The new array will add processor and throughput resources, in addition to disk
capacity and spindles, all of which improve overall SAN performance.

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Figure 4. Automatic Tiering Between SSD and HDD

The PS6000XVS/6010XVS is a highly specialized SAN array that combines low-latency SSD and 15,000
RPM SAS drives within a single enclosure, further advancing EqualLogic Auto-Tiering. Whereas other PS
Series arrays operate at the volume level, the XVS performs tiering on data sets at a sub-volume level.
Within the XVS, sub-volume workloads are categorized as high I/O, medium I/O, or low I/O, and then
placed as appropriate onto either SSD or SAS tiers. The XVS systems can add tremendous value to such
multi-tiered workloads as virtual desktop implementation (VDI) and catalog-oriented database
applications, which contain both static and highly dynamic components. With EqualLogic multi-tiering
arrays, IT departments can:

• Reduce costs, through the alignment of low-IOPS data with capacity-optimized Nearline disk
resources.
• Improve performance, through the assignment of SSD and SAS resources to high-IOPS data
stores.
• Optimize SAN storage for multi-tiered workloads such as virtual desktop deployments.
• Simplify architecting, implementing and fine-tuning tiered storage settings in live production
environments, with minimal disruption of operations.

For more information about Dell automatic tiering solutions, download information from the following:

www.equallogic.com/resourcecenter/assetview.aspx?id=9279

www.equallogic.com/solutions/default.aspx?id=9687

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Appendix A: Overview of Dell Storage Arrays
In this section, we provide an overview of Dell’s PowerVault, EqualLogic, and PowerEdge storage
arrays, the types of drives they can house, and their performance.

PowerVault Storage Solutions Overview

Today, IT organizations need to store and manage rapidly increasing amounts of data with limited
resources and budgets. The Dell PowerVault MD family addresses these challenges with versatile
solutions optimized for smaller-scale storage consolidation and virtualization projects. PowerVault MD
products include a series of high-performance SAN and direct-attached storage arrays, high-capacity
expansion enclosures, and robust management software that together deliver exceptional flexibility,
scalability, and value.

• Storage consolidation and virtualization—The PowerVault MD3600i and MD3620i Series of iSCSI
SAN arrays is ideal for network storage consolidation and virtualization deployments of up to 64
physical servers.
• High availability storage—The PowerVault MD3200 and MD3220 Series of storage arrays
incorporates 6 Gb/s SAS technology for shared storage and virtualized environments on
PowerEdge servers. These next-generation arrays offer exceptional flexibility, scalability, and
performance. Dual-controller models can connect up to four high-availability servers or eight
non-redundant servers for balanced performance in mixed virtualized environments.
• Simplified expansion—The PowerVault MD1200 and MD1220 are direct-attach 6 GB/s SAS
expansion enclosures that can connect to MD3200 Series arrays and Dell PowerEdge servers to
provide additional capacity for high performance and data-intensive applications.
• Unmatched performance—The PowerVault MD1220 delivers the speed, flexibility, and reliability
to satisfy data-hungry, performance-intensive applications that store active and frequently
changing information.
• Scalable capacity—The PowerVault MD1200 expansion enclosure is ideal for applications that
move large amounts of data and require extended storage capacity. Up to twelve (12) 3.5” or
2.5” SAS HDDs or SSDs can be housed in this 2U array family to provide up to 24 TB of storage.
Both drive sizes can be combined behind a single PowerEdge RAID Controller.

Table 8. PowerVault MD Series Hybrid Storage Arrays

Feature MD1200 MD1220 MD3200 MD3200i MD3220 MD3220i

Array
24 TB 24 TB 12 TB
Capacity

3.5 and 2.5-inch 2.5-inch SAS/NL 3.5 and 2.5-inch 2.5-inch SAS/NL SAS
Disk Drives SAS/NL SAS HDD; SAS HDD; 2.5-inch SAS/NL SAS HDDs; HDDs; 2.5-inch SSDs
2.5-inch SSD SSDs 2.5-inch SSDs

Performance 6 Gbps SAS HDDs; 3 Gbps SSDs

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PowerEdge Servers Overview
Dell PowerEdge servers are purpose-built to focus on the key business and non-business related
challenges facing IT departments, including:

• Reliability
• Manageability
• Energy Efficiency
• Memory Scalability and Capacity
• Virtualization Performance
• Business Value

Rack and Tower Servers

Dell provides a complete portfolio of 1, 2, and 4 socket rack servers designed to reduce complexity and
deliver superior value. PowerEdge rack servers feature excellent performance and functionality, along
with outstanding reliability. Dell also provides a complete tower server portfolio with a wide choice of
performance and functionality, giving organizations of all sizes a solid foundation from which to run IT
operations. The PowerEdge server towers are designed to deliver high quality and reliability at a
consistently low acquisition cost, with exceptional price for performance.

Blade and Cloud Servers

The Dell PowerEdge M-Series blade servers address the challenges of an evolving IT environment by
delivering leading enterprise-class features and functionality. The M-Series delivers a unique array of
options configured to meet the needs of IT environments today and in the future. Dell hyperscale-
inspired servers are designed to deliver the most compute power in the least amount of space.

• Simple Manageability—Dell’s blade solutions deliver an array of enterprise-class management

capabilities, including centralized, chassis-based tools to maximize data center productivity.
• Increased Flexibility—Designed to lead the industry in rapid deployment, Dell’s fully modular
blade enclosure provides an effective solution for scaling I/O infrastructure that delivers
savings in time, cabling and switch port costs.
• Energy Efficiency—Dell M-series blades are designed for energy efficiency and density to
address growing power consumption and space constraints in the data center.

EqualLogic Storage Solutions Overview

Built on patented peer storage architecture, the Dell EqualLogic PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage
arrays offer high performance, reliability, intelligent automation, and seamless virtualization of
storage to enable simplified enterprise storage deployment and management, and comprehensive data
protection. The EqualLogic PS6000XVS and the PS6010XVS arrays contain the latest in SSD and SAS HDD
technology to automatically tier and deliver fast access to high demand hot data in a multi-tiered
workload.

The on-board intelligence of the EqualLogic firmware provides automatic tiering between the two drive
types—SSD and SAS, as well as automatic load balancing across multiple drives of each type, helping
deliver the appropriate balance of responsiveness and capacity for multi-tiered workloads. The
EqualLogic PS6000XVS array uses intelligent and dynamic data placement algorithms to move hot data
to the SSD drives from SAS drives and move cold or warm data from the SSD drives to the SAS drives as
needed. In addition, with an all-inclusive pricing model for enterprise software features like snapshot,

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remote replication, and application integration, Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI storage arrays offer a
fundamental change in the way enterprises think about purchasing and managing storage.

Table 9. EqualLogic PS6000 Series Hybrid Storage Arrays

Feature PS6000XVS PS6000S PS6010XVS PS6010S

400, 800 GB, or 1.6

Array Capacity 4.4 TB 4.4 TB 800 GB or 1.6 TB
TB

Disk Drives SAS HDD; SSD SSD SAS HDD; SSD SSD

Performance 6 Gbps SAS HDDs; 3 Gbps SSDs

Appendix B: Related Publications

• Dell PowerVault MD Family
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pvaul/en/powervault-md-storage-family-
brochure-en.pdf

• Dell EqualLogic PS Series

http://www.equallogic.com/resourcecenter/assetview.aspx?id=8341

• Dell PowerEdge Servers Portfolio Guide

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/pedge-portfolio-brochure.pdf

• Automate Storage Tiering Simply and Efficiently with Dell EqualLogic PS Series Virtualized
iSCSI SANs
http://www.equallogic.com/resourcecenter/assetview.aspx?id=9279

• Optimize Storage for Multi-Tiered Workloads with Dell EqualLogic PS6000XVS & PS6010XVS
iSCSI SAN Arrays
http://www.equallogic.com/solutions/default.aspx?id=9687
Appendix B: Related Publications

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